The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Mickey]

To Vicky: Yes, Joelie is right. In Texas everything is Coke. You say, "Hey friend, can you get me a diet coke?" Your friend says, "What kind?"

To ToyDiva: You made me laugh out loud when you said, "Little Devils." Ain't that the truth, sister!

OK, so last night my daddy invited me to dinner with he and my mom. Thing is, they wanted BBQ. I knew I could have 7 oz. of chicken since this joint didn't serve anything green. I think I may have eaten about double what I was supposed to, so I didn't eat my last Medifast meal. Then I looked on the internet and found that smoked chicken has like, a bizillion calories! So now I'm freaking out that I've ruined ketosis and will have to start over. Any input?

[Nancy]

Hi, Mickey ~

Let me address a few things here..

When we prepare chicken or poultry for our lean and green meal, it is important to cook it without the skin. When we cook beef, pork, venison, etc. we need to trim off all visible fat.

Generally when people barbecue or smoke poultry, the skin is left on the bird and that does increase the calories.

Eating out during the initial stages of the weight loss phase can pose some challenges, especially when we are unsure of what 7 ounces of chicken looks like - it's just hard for most of us to eyeball the correct portion size.

After a lot of portion weighing, I just about know how much 7 ounces of fish or chicken looks like but until you feel comfortable recognizing it, measure at home, compare it to the palm of your hand and try to get a good understandng of its size before you go out to eat.

Mickey, what's done is done, we cannot undo dinner. Ideally you would have had some salad or green beans with your meat portion. If the restaurant had none, you could have eaten the green as soon as you got home.

We do not skip packets - they are balanced meals and include the essential amino acids, the vitamins and minerals that we need. When we skip a packet, we are cutting out 20% of our day's nutrition. Because of previous weight loss programs or diets, we often think that we have overeaten in one meal and better skip meals to help cut back on the calories when what we need is that smaller balanced meal eaten at the next three hour interval.

You are still learning here, it takes some time to catch on so let's not fret and just take it from this point and eat on time, do all you can to carefully follow the Quick Start guidebook.

As time goes by, people become very assertive and are able to tell the wait staff how they want their meal prepared or we tell our family members that we would prefer to go to another restaurant that has better options for us. I have found that many restaurants actually have things in the kitchen that they do not list on their menu. They are usually very accommodating and serve just what I request.

It is easy to supersize the portion at a restaurant, especially when we feel like there are not a lot of options for us. I wouldn’t focus on the bazillion calories from the dinner last night but plan what I’d do the next time I go to a barbecue place. I used to practice what I would say at the restaurant or to my family and friends before I left the house so that when the time came, I had rehearsed it and was prepared. I didn’t stumble and stammer and felt very confident.

You’ll do great next time, Mickey! There is nothing like Texas barbecue!